Acton Academy Albuquerque currently offers Kindergarten through 12th grade.

We operate on an eleven month calendar, but our flexible program allows families to travel together during the year, without significant disruption. We have also attempted, when possible, to align our academic calendar with APS breaks to make things easier for those with students at multiple schools.

Find our school calendar below. You can click on it to download the PDF version.

Annual tuition for all studios during the 2022-2023 school year: $9,400. Non-refundable registration deposit of $500 to confirm enrollment. Sibling discount of 10% per additional student. Limited need based financial aid is available for qualifying families.

We do occasionally enroll students mid-year depending upon available space and whether we determine the student is capable of thriving.

We respect and incorporate Maria Montessori’s philosophy, but we are not a Montessori school. In addition to Montessori methods, we use the latest interactive technologies, hands on projects and the Socratic Method for discussions.

Acton Albuquerque revolves around the basic truths of Christianity: the belief that humans are designed to be the hands and feet of God in the world, using their gifts to the best of their abilities. Because Acton encourages exploration and independent learning, however, we leave the teaching of specific doctrine up to individual families. Children and families of all faiths are welcome at Acton Albuquerque.

We believe that each of us has a special calling in life, and a series of trials and tests that must be faced with integrity and purpose in order to live a satisfying and fulfilled life. Our mission is to prepare your child for his or her special journey.

Someone who can research questions, follow instructions, solve problems—admit that they don’t know something and figure out a solution when they hit a roadblock without asking an adult for help — participate in discussions, and strive for mastery.

Acton is not the right environment for children with learning disabilities. The intentionally small staff and emphasis on removing the adult as the focus of attention means that we are not able to give students needing focused one-on-one assistance, tutoring or coaching by an adult what they need.

Students with ADHD or mild dyslexia have shown themselves able to thrive at Acton with appropriate support at home. It should be noted that, especially at younger ages, the Acton environment can prove triggering or overwhelming for students on the autism spectrum or for highly sensitive children.

We believe each of our students will find a passion — something they love and have a gift to do. They will use this gift to serve others and fulfill a need they are passionate about in the world. This may be by becoming a shoe-shiner who tells stories and makes people’s day just by doing his job with love and vigor; it may be by becoming a coach who sees the light in a child’s eyes and guides her to pursue a dream; it may be by becoming a father or mother who leads a family on a Hero’s Journey; it may be becoming an entrepreneur or business leader guided by compassion and integrity; or it may be by becoming an artist or writer who brings beauty to people’s lives.

We believe that children learn best when working with those younger and older than themselves rather than split up into groups based solely on age. In addition to individualized curriculum, all ages of students work together in multi-age groups within each studio.

At Acton Albuquerque, the students run the Studio (classroom) by agreeing together what their rules are for behavior and treatment of one another. These are called their “Studio Covenants” and “Rules of Engagement”. These rules and covenants are prominently displayed in the studio and revisited. Often, these are revised by the students as they work through challenges and discover better ways of interacting with one another.

Students also budget their time and choose their areas of focus for certain portions of the day and adjust these based on their performance. We believe strongly that students achieve more when they have control of their learning.

At Acton Albuquerque we believe in learning to be and learning to do and an important part of this is encouraging kids to take responsibility for their own behavior and hold those around them to a high standard. When something isn’t working, we want our students to work together to solve the problem, not look for an adult to solve it for them. This creates a sense of independence and confidence that will serve them well in all areas of life.

At Acton Albuquerque, we believe in the power of balance. Using the incredible, self-paced eLearning tools now available, we are able to provide the rigor needed for learning math, vocabulary, spelling and grammar in about 90 minutes each day, while freeing up the rest of the day for engaging, project-based learning.

The two are highly complementary. It should be noted that there is no use of individual technology in the Dreamers Studio (ages 5-7) and it is used in the Lower Elementary Studio (ages 6-9) only as students take on the challenges required to transition up into the Upper Elementary Studio (ages 9-12).